Concentrator deck



1 March 927 A. H. STEBBtNS CONCENTRATOR DECK Filed June 14. 1926 ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 29 1927.

; UNITEDsSTA T ES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT H. STEI BINS, F LOSTANGEL ES, CALIFORNIA.

CONCENTRATOR DECK.

Application filed June 14, 1926. Serial No. 115,818.

This invention relates to concentrator decks, and more particularly to means ad.

jacent the feed hopper for guiding the ma.- terials from the hopper onto different portions of the deck surface.

The transversely inclined concentrator decks as constructed heretofore have been provided with feed hoppers that deliver the because, they produce an excessive volume of materials in the small area of the deck 'snrface.

The present lnventlon therefore relates to a novel construction for dlrectlng the manear the feed hopper, and order to disseminate these materials over the deck surface it has been necessary to employ more force than is needed to classify and stratify the materials. after they have been spread out over the deck surface.

The materials delivered to the deck surface by the feed .hop er have been spread out over the deck sur ace heretofore by vibrating the deck, by imparting a transverse inclination to the deck, and b forcing air upwardly through the materials, but, as above stated, the force which it has been necessary-to employ heretofore to work the materia s away from the feed hopper has in many cases been too strong to effect. the desired separation of thematerials upon the deck terials to be' treated from .the feed hopper to predetermined positions upon the deck surface, and a primary feature of the present invention resides in a concentrator deck having a series of tall guide walls that extend from the feed hopper over a portion of the deck surface. and which are arranged to form canyons in which the materials flow to predetermined positions-upon the deck surface. 1 The tall guide wallspreferahly extend diagonally over the deck surface in a direction to direct the materials toward the upper side of the deck, and as a result of this construction the materials may be supplied to the deck surface by a hopper that extends acrossthe entire end of the deck, or which is disposed at the end of the deck near the lower side thereof. The canyons formed between the high guide walls serve not onl to direct the materials to different pre etermined positions upon the deck surface, but also to effect a artial stratification of the materials as t my travel along the canyons.

As a result of the present invention, the di'fliculty experienced heretofore in working the materials away from the feed hopper is overcome, and the materials are delivered by the high walls to the desired portions of the deck surface in a artially treated condition. Furthermore, t e points at which the materials leave the canyons are suflicientl spread out over the deck surface to permit the materials to be rapidly treated upon the remaining po ion of the deck surface.

The various features of the invention will be best understoodfrom the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a concentrator deck constructed in accordance with the present invention;

F Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the. deck of -%ig. 3 is a plan view of a modified type of deck; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a combined guide wall and rifile.

The concentrator deck embodying the features of the present invention may for the most part. have the usual or any preferred constructi'omand in the construction shown the concentrator deck is provided with a concentrate wall 10 having the usual bufler blocks 11 against which the concentrates are directed by the inclined rifiles to be described.

The materials to be treated are delivered to the deck surface 12 which may have apertures 13 formed throughout its entire'surface; or formedin only a portion of the deck surface, as desired. The concentrator deck may have the usual alr chamber 14 pro- "ided below the deck surface, and to which air under pressure may be supplied by a fan blower 15. the discharge portion of which blower is connected to a hood 1d of the deck by the flexib'e connection 16".

The concentraton d'eck is preferably supported ata transverse inclination, as shown in Fig. 1, and to this end the deck is mount- .u on the ed upon the supporting carriage 17, the

lower or trailing discharge side of the deck being secured to the carriage by the hinges 18 while the upper or concentrate side of the deck is supported in spaced relation to the carriage as is usual. The deck is preferably mounted for vibratory movement in the direction of its length, and while various means might be provided for supporting the deck so that it may partake of such movement, the means shown consists of the bearing bloocks 19 that are mounted upon the deck supporting frame, and each of these bearing blocks is provided with a recess adapted to receive abal-l or roller 20 the upper portion of which extends into a similar bearing block 21 .which is secured to the under face of the carriage 17. The supporting frame may be constructed of the uprights 22. which are connected by the longitudinally extending beams 23 and the uprights at the opposite sidesv of the concentratormay be connected by the transversely extending braces 24. The bearing blocks 19 may be mounted at the upper ends of the uprights 22.

In most cases it will be desirable to impart a progressive vibratory movement to the concentrator deck, and while various means might be employed for imparting a progressive movement to the deck, the means shown to this end consists of the spring actuated cables 25, two being shown, which serve to pull the deck in the right-handdirection, and power operated cables are provided for ulling the deck in the left-hand direction. ach of the cables 25 has one end securedto a bar or tube. 26 that may be clam ed to a bracket 27 fastened to a transverse y extending brace 28 of the supporting.

cables 25 to; urge the w right-hand direction.

The me shownfor moving thedeck in a left-hand direction consists of the cables 33, two being shown; and each of these cables ihas one end fastened to 'a. bracket 27 which ii's "fastened to a transversely extendingsbrace28 of the carriage, and the adjacent on of the cables 25 and33 may be connected .by a turnbuckle 34 so that the pull of one cable will be transmittedflirectlyto the other. -Each cable 33 'extendsaround a grooved sheave '35 which is rotatably supported-by a transversely extending'shaft 36,

compressed springs 31 exert a const f t pull 1 and which may be similar to the sheave 29 above described. The cables 33'pass from the sheaves 35 downwardly and around the rigidly secured to the main shaft 40 which I may be driven by a pulley not shown. The arrangement is such that rotation of the shaft 40 will cause the eccentrics 38 to r0- tate within the sheaves 37, to move these sheaves in an orbital path. This movement of the sheaves will serve to alternately tension and slack off the cables 33 so that as these cables are tensioned they will pull the deck in a left-hand direction, and as they are slacked off they will permit the deck to move in aright-hand direction under the action of the springs 31. By varying the strength of the springs 31 the progressive movement imparted to the deck may be made as energetic as desired.

The construction so far described forms no essential part of the present invention, but is shown to make clear the novel features of the invention which will now be described. The materials to be treated are delivered to the deck surface by the hopper '41, and it should be noted that this hopper is shown as extending across the entire lefthand end of the deck. The materials flow from the hopper onto the deck surface by passing through. an opening rovided between the lower edge of the wa l 42and the bottom of the hopper.

As stated, difliculty has been experienced heretofore in devising satisfactory means for workin the materials away from the hopper an spreading them out over the deck surface, without imparting to'the deck forces that are more energetic than are desired to effect the separation of the materials after they have been worked away from the hopper. This difiiculty is overcome in accordance with the present invention by providing adjacent the hopper 41 a series of guide walls 43 which extend from the feed hopper over the deck surface to form relativelyflgleep canvons in which the materials travel --the surface. {These guide walls 43 are given a suflicient height to prevent the material's desired portion of the deck 0 from flowing transversely over the walls from one cayon into another, and the guide walls preferably extend diagonally over the decksurface as shown,-so that they serve to direct the materials up the-"transversely inclined deck. surface as the-$materials travel along the canyons formed between the high walls 43.- These walls 43 preferably increase in length m the direction in which they are A arranged along the feed hopper towards thelower side of the deck, as will be apparent from the drawings; this being desirableso that the canyons formed between thewalls will direct the materials traveling in these canyons to different portions of the deck surface tothereby spread out the materials. sufficiently to enable them to be rapidly concentrated after they leave the canyons.

The high guide walls 43 serve not only to direct the materials away from the feed hop er and-to spread themout over the deck sur ace, but also to confine the materials while a preliminary.stratification of these materials is being effectedas they travel along .the canyons. The use'of the, guide walls 43.permits the employment of a feed hopper 41 that extends across the entire end of the concentrator deck, as shown, since by arranging the walls 43 so'thatthey'extend from the feed hopper towards the upper side of the deck' they directthe' materials within the canyons towards the upper side of the deck. I 5- That portion of the deck surface 12 which is not providedwiththe guide walls 43 may be provided with the usual inclined rifiies 44, and after 'the materials leave the-canyons they may be treated upon the remaining portion of the'deck surface in the usual manner. That is, the concentrates will travel alon centrate wa 1 while the lighter materials or tailings will gradually work up'over the concentrates and flow laterally over the rifiles towards the lower side of the deck under the influence of the transverse slope of the deck surface. The guide walls 43 and rifiies 44 may be formed separately, or,

' desired, they may-be formed of a single strip of metal or other material, as shown in Fig.

' 4, and if desired the rifiles 44' may be iven the" tapered construction shown in ig.-'4

' sothat their height gradually decreasesas they approach the concentrate wall.

The progressive movement imparted to the' deck will help classify the materials traveling within-the canyons and the classification of these 'materialsmay be further effected by forming the apertures 13 in the deck surface betweenthe walls 43 to subject the materials to the separating action of rising air currents. These apertures. ma

be formed only in that portion of the doc lyingnear the feed hopper, as shown inthe modification of Fig. 3, or. they] may formed in the entire deck surface, as-shown in Figs. v1 and 2. The tallguide-walls 43 may be arranged in alignment with the riflles 44, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, so that these guide walls are placed as close together as are the rifiles, or if desired the space between.th e adjacent guidewalls 43 may be greater than the space between the riflles,

as shown in Fig. 3, wherein it will be seen the rifiles 44towards the con-J that a riflle 44 lies between each pair of adja-.. cent walls 43. Since the guide walls extend transversely over the deck-surface the wall 3 surface -may be deflected inwardly, as indicated by 45 in Figs. 1 and 2, or if desired several additional guide walls 43 may be.

charge hopper, butthe right-hand ends of these walls serve to prevent the materials from flowing too rapidly over the rifiles to wards the lower side of the deck,

Itwill be apparent from the foregoing that the guide walls43 serve to deliver to the upper side of the deck the amount of .materials that can be properly handled there and to deliver to other portions of the deck disposed progressively down the deck sur' face the amount of material that can be best taken care of upon each portionof the deck. As-a result of this construction the materials are not only spread out overthe deck surface by the guide walls so that-they may be rapidly separated as they travel along the rifiles, but the s eed'at which the separation of the. materia s'may be effected upon'the remaining portion ofthe deck is greatly increased, due to the fact that the materials are in a partially Stratified condition when they issue from the canyons. It will therefore be seen that the guide walls 43 forming the subject matter of the present invention not only constitute an extremely satisfactory means for directing, the materials away fromthe feed hopper over'the deck surface, but that they also materially increase the speed at which the materials may extending along the lowerside of the deck be concentrated upon the deck'surface. The dotted line'47'shown'in Figs. 2 and 3 is pro- Vlded merely to indicate the approximate field of the different zones;v that is, that portion of the deck surface lying above the dottedline 47 is the portion of the deck sur-' face in which the concentrates predominate,

while the portion of the deck surface lyin below this-line is the portion of the dec surface in which a rapid cross flow of.- the.

tailings isbeing effected. What is claimed is 1. .A' concentrator combination, a deck casing having a deck surface that is suplported at a transverse in- :declg comprisingin the material fiows to predetermined portions of the deck surface, said wallshaving sufii- 'cient'hcight to prevent'thematerials from flowing laterally over the walls.

2. A; concentrator deck, comprising in combination, a deck casing having a deck surface that is supported at a transverse inclination, riiiies upon the deck surface for separating' the concentrates from the tailings, a feed hopper at one end of the deck, and a series ofguide walls extending from the feed hopper toward the upper side of thidcck and arranged to form canyons in which the materials" flow to predetermined portions of the deck surface, said-walls being of suflicieut height .to prevent the materials from flowing laterally ever the walls.

3; A concentrator deck, comprising in combination, a deck casing having a deck surface that is supported at a transverse inclination, riilles'upon the deck'surface for separating the concentrates from the tailings, a feedjhopper atjonc. end of the deck,

a series of guide walls extending from the feed hopper toward the upper side of the" deck and arranged to form canyons 1n which the materials flow to predetermined portions'of the deck surface, said walls'being of sufficient height to prevent thematerials from flowing laterally over the walls, and means for vibrating the deck to effect a preliminary classification .of the materials as they travel in said-canyons. V

4. A concentrators deck, comprising in -rcombination, 'a' deck casing having-- adeck surface that is'sup'port'ed at a transverse mclination, a feed hopper at'one end of the deck, a series of guide walls extending from the hopper over the deck-surface toward the upper side of thedecka'ndarranged to form canyons in which the inaterialsflow to predetermined portionsiof the' deck surface; said walls being of-suflicientheight toprevent the materials; from flowing laterally over the walls, and riflies extending from the delivery: ends ofthecanyons over-the deck surface 5 5. A concentrator deck, comprising in combination, af deck casing havmg'a deck 'surfacethat is s'upported'at'atransverse 1nclination, a feed ho per at one end of the deck, a series'of gui e walls extendingfrom the hopper over a rtion of the deck surface and "arranged to form canyons between'ithemin whichthe materials flow to predetermined portions of the deck surface,- said walls being of sufiicient height to prevent the matenals from 1 flowing -laterally over the walls, and the deck surfacebetween said. walls being aperturedto subject the sufiicient height to prevent the materials from flowing laterally'over theiwalls.

7.-'A concentrator deck, comprising in combination, .a deck casing having a;deck surface that is supported at a transverse inclination, a feed hopper at one-end o f the deck, a series of guide walls extending from the feed hopper 'diago'nall over-the deck a surface and arranged to orm canyons mwhich the materials flow to predetermined positions upon the deck-surface, said -.walls having a sufiicient' height to prevent thevmaterials from fiowingdaterallyl over the, walls and having their length .increasedis in :the

order in ;which they are arranged from the upper to the lowerside of the deck;

8. A concentrator deck; comprising in combination, a deck 'casinghaving, adeck surface that'is supported at a; transverse inclinixtiori, a;feed: h opper at one endof the deck, rifileswxtending diagonally'- .over the deck surface so that'they slopeupwardly' toward the. upper ,side of the deck, and the vided with relatively highwalls over w "ch the-materials will not flow laterally and said walls being=arranged to -form canyons between them which guidethe materials from the hopper to predetermined positionsnupon the deck surface.

- 9. .A concentrator, deck, comprising in combination, a deck casing havinga deck surface that is supported at a transverse inclination,'a feed opper atone end of the deck, a series of guide walls extending from the hopper in an inclined direction-upthe deck surface and arranged to iorm canyons-v in which the materials flow in an inclined "direction-, up the deck surface to predetermined pgrtions .ofthe decksurface, and

said walls being of sufiicient height to prevent the materials fromflowing laterally over the'top of the walls; v

. Intesti'mony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

ALBERT n; sTEBBnIs. 

